In this undated early photo of the Brown Palace Hotel from the State Historical Society of Colorado, horse-drawn buggies carry passengers past the hotel, which doesn't look very different from today, a sort of monument to its designer, Frank E. Edbrooke. (Courtesy of State Historical Society of Colorado)
Kenn Bisio, The Denver PostDec. 22, 1978: Debutantes waltz beneath a shimmering chandelier. The social scene was captured as 30 debutantes were presented at the Brown Palace Hotel. Kenn Bisio,
Barry Staver, The Denver PostDec. 22, 1971: Onlookers at the Debutante Ball watch presentation ceremonies through glass partitions in the rotunda at the Brown Palace Hotel. It was the 16th year of the event benefiting Denver Symphony Orchestra.
Bob Jackson, The Denver PostDec. 31, 1968: Watching quietly as she sat in the lobby of the Brown Palace Hotel, this woman, who declined to give her name, must have been reminiscing about many New Year's Eves of yesteryear as she watched partygoers celebrate the arrival of 1969.
Ira Gay Sealy, The Denver PostJune 15, 1952: Gen. and Mrs. Eisenhower wave from the open seat of their car to some of the thousands of Coloradans who lined the route from Stapleton Field to the Brown Palace Hotel. This is at East Colfax Avenue and Monaco Parkway.
Ira Gay Sealy, The Denver PostAug. 9, 1950: Many parties have been given during the brief visit here of Mrs. Herbert Witherspoon, left, who arrived last week from New York, among them the luncheon for which Mrs. Leroy Hinman, right, was hostess Tuesday at the Brown Palace hotel. Witherspoon and Miss Polly Grimes left Wednesday for a motor trip to Yellowstone National Park before going east.
John Beard, The Denver PostMay 20, 1972: Antiwar demonstrators gathered at the Brown Palace Hotel on May 20, 1972 and picketed for 15 minutes. The group, no more than 100, included 31 people who marched from Greeley.
Bill Johnson, The Denver PostJuly 6, 1973: Calvin Jumping Bull, far left, a great-grandson of Sitting Bull, and other Oglala Sioux Tribe members perform a victory dance in the lobby of the Brown Palace Hotel to publicize the 77th annual Cheyenne Frontier Days. Jumping Bull and 33 other Sioux performed at several Colorado sites in July of 1973.
Bill Johnson, The Denver PostFeb. 13, 1973: Brown Palace's Karl Mehlmann inspects a remodeled room in the tower. The size was doubled by removing a wall where a room divider now stands.
Bill Johnson, The Denver PostAug. 17, 1972: This small area adjacent to The Brown Palace is one of 17 traffic triangles The Park People, 1-25 Artists Alliance and Downtown Denver, Inc., were looking to beautify in the early 1970s.
Barry Staver, The Denver PostJune 18, 1971: Driver Ernest Sandoval prepares to help Sr. Aniceta pay her cab fare. She is exiting the taxi as she arrives at The Brown Palace Hotel.
Lyn Alweis, The Denver PostDec. 23, 1981: Edward P. Connors escorts his daughter, Hope, down grand stairway at Brown Palace Hotel on that Tuesday night for her presentation as one of 34 Denver debutantes. Nearly 1,400 people attended the Christmastime social event.
Dean Conger, The Denver PostMarch 11, 1959: Tiny Shauna Mallett promises her mother, Mrs. Thomas Cosgriff that she'll do it right when she models at the big CARE Fashion Show Luncheon at the then-new Brown Palace West.
Ed Maker, The Denver PostMarch 4, 1981: Brown Palace Hotel employee Ernest McCarther, somewhat protected by an umbrella, blasts through the snow piled on a downtown Denver sidewalk in front of The Brown Palace with an electric snow remover early Wednesday morning, as the wind blew and the flakes swirled around him. The biggest storm of the season snarled traffic, caused accidents and power outages and was accompanied by winds that formed large drifts.
John Prieto, The Denver PostJan. 10, 1972: Gerald Goudeau puts his finishing touches on an hors d'oeuvre tray. The East High School student was being trained as a chef at Brown Palace Hotel.
Bill Johnson, The Denver PostSept. 22, 1979: The Brown Palace Hotel in the fall of 1979.
Glen Martin, The Denver PostOct. 24, 1980: Police and passers-by gather near the draped body of a Denver man on the sidewalk. The man fell to his death from the seventh floor of the Brown Palace Hotel. The victim was identified as James C. McCarty. Homicide detectives said several witnesses reported seeing McCarty, who wasn't registered at the hotel, climb out a hotel window, then jump. He landed on the sidewalk in front of the hotel's Ship Tavern.
Lyn Alweis, The Denver PostApril 15, 1980: Artist Lloyd Way inspects the painting, which is to be installed in the Onyx Room ceiling.
Anthony Suau, The Denver PostJanuary 1983: Ringmaset cleans up the cow dung at the Brown Palace Auction.
Cloyd Teter, The Denver PostOct. 25 1954: Republican women leaders are served coffee and doughnuts — and china elephants with " Allott" printed on their sides — at the Brown Palace Hotel in honor of Mrs. Gordon Allott, wife of the Republican candidates for the U. S. Senate. The scheduled speaker at the meeting, U. S. Sen. Eva Bowring R-Neb., was aboard a plane grounded by bad whether at Casper, Wyo and was unable to attend. Shown here are Mrs. Allott, Mrs. Ruth Stockton, GOP national committeewoman from Colorado; Mary Pemberton, past president of the state Women's Republican club; Mrs. Ella D. Houghelin, president of the women's Republican Club of Denver; and Mrs. May Willis, vice chairman of the Denver GOP central committee.
Cloyd Teter, The Denver PostMay 12, 1960: Dr. Barbara Moore rests her sore feet on couch at Brown Palace Hotel.
Bill Johnson, The Denver PostJune 8, 1963: The Miss Denver Pageant parade rounds the corner near the Brown Palace Hotel and begins drive up Court Place. Shoppers and other pedestrians in the downtown area got a preview of the finals of the contest which will be staged Sunday evening.
Ed Maker, The Denver PostApril 4, 1964: U.N. Secretary General chats with Mrs. Robert S. McCollum, wife of the vice chancellor of University of Denver. At left is the Rev. Noboru Tsunoda of the Tri-State Buddhist Church of Denver, who gave the invocation.
The Denver PostAug. 16, 1964: Brown Palace Hotel from above.
Dave Buresh, The Denver PostNov. 28 1967: From left are Chairman John Breckenridge of Twin Falls, Idaho; Walter Miller, feeder from Reinbeck, Iowa, and Gene Barker, of Reinbeck, meet was at Brown Palace Hotel.
Bill Peters, The Denver PostDec. 15, 1969: The Gove Junior High School Chorus carols under the direction of Ken Staten. The ninth grade chorus entertained Christmas guests and visitors in the Brown Palace Hotel on Tuesday with traditional songs and carols. The 95-voice group sang during the noon hour.
John Prieto, The Denver PostMay 20, 1984: The Brown Palace Hotel patrons watch an implosion through the windows.
Susan Biddle, The Denver PostNov. 19 1984: Soap Opera Producer John Conboy at The Brown Palace Hotel.
Jim Richardson, The Denver PostJune 21, 1986: With dust mop in hand, Canuto de Santiago cleaned out one of the windows of the Ships Tavern at the Brown Palace Hotel this morning.
Brian Brainerd, The Denver PostDecember 1986: Daniel Miller and Renee Danos chat while overlooking the dance floor at the 1986 Debutante Ball at The Brown Palace Hotel.
John Prieto, The Denver PostDec. 3, 1986, Brown Palace Hotel in the winter of 1986.
The Denver PostFebruary 1992: The lobby of The Brown Palace Hotel.
The Denver PostDecember 1987: The Brown Palace Hotel dining area in 1987.
Dave Buresh, The Denver PostNov. 20, 1987: Scott Orr, left, and Bob Pritchard, right, handling the pipe above the ground at the No. 2 well at the Brown Palace Hotel.
Lyn Alweis, The Denver PostDec. 27 1987: Patrons get pampered at The Brown Palace Barber Shop.
Anthony Suau, The Denver PostJan. 19, 1997: The Brown Palace Hotel.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver PostMario Avent, middle, and Hiwat Gebremariam dressed up as ancient Egyptians as part of the decorations for the 23rd Champagne Cascade, held each year at The Brown Palace Hotel. This year the celebration was an Egyptian-style celebration of the Denver Art Museum's Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs exhibit. In front of hundreds of viewers, Master Swordsman Bernard Ganter severed the necks of 4 magnum bottles of champagne. Once opened, the champagne was poured by both Cathey Finlon, president of Denver Art Museum, and Marcel Pitton, managing director of The Brown Palace.
Craig F. Walker, The Denver PostJan. 21, 2011: Sherry Parker, vice queen of the Regal Red Hatters, admires Ricky Bobby, while the National Western Stock Show's Grand Champion & Reserve Steers made the annual visit to the Brown Palace Hotel & Spa in Denver.
Maya Lynn, 8, enjoys tea with her grandmother, Debbie Lynn, left, while the National Western Stock Show's Grand Champion and Reserve Steers were being shown at the Brown Palace Hotel & Spa in Denver on January, 25, 2013. (Photo By Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post)
Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver PostJune 11, 2012: The Brown Palace in downtown Denver is now home to 4 bee hives. They are maintained by Matt Kentner on the roof of the famous hotel. They built a little shelter to provide shade for the bees.
Glenn Asakawa, The Denver PostMay 27, 2005: Bayar Begzduren, housekeeping supervisor, helps clean a room at The Brown Palace Hotel. The Metro Denver Convention and Visitors Authority considered asking to boost the city's lodger's tax on hotel rooms to 14.5 percent from 13.5 percent around this time.
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In this undated early photo of the Brown Palace Hotel from the State Historical Society of Colorado, horse-drawn buggies carry passengers past the hotel, which doesn't look very different from today, a sort of monument to its designer, Frank E. Edbrooke. (Courtesy of State Historical Society of Colorado)
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By Amy Brothers | abrothers@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED:
Getting your player ready...
When room service knocked, John Lennon leapt for the door. It was Aug. 25, 1964, the night before The Beatles were to take the stage at Red Rocks, and the Fab Four were hungry.
They sat around their hotel room, impatiently awaiting orders of grilled cheese and chips, said Debra Faulkner, historian at the Brown Palace Hotel, as she shared the tale that has become ingrained in hotel lore.
Lennon flung open the door as soon as food arrived. He looked down at the cart of plates and cursed, according to her account, “Bloody Americans don’t know how to do chips.”
The French-fry faux paus recounts but one chapter in the long history of the Brown Palace Hotel, the luxury-hotel stalwart of downtown Denver since it opened in 1892.